KILLED  IN  ACTION  -  BATTLE  OF  MIDWAY  -  6/4/1942

Jack Winton Wilke was born on June 13, 1919, in Covina, California.  On January 13, 1941, in Long Beach, California, he enlisted in the Naval Reserve V-5 Aviation Candidate Program, and upon completion of flight training was designated a Naval Aviator and commissioned an Ensign on August 30, 1941.  His first duty assignment was with  Patrol Squadron Twenty-Four (PATRON-24) at Naval Air Station, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.  In late May 1942, a flight of new TBF-1 Torpedo Bombers of Torpedo Squadron Eight (VT-8) was passing through Hawaii enroute to join the squadron aboard the carrier USS Hornet (CV-8).  When orders were received for the TBFs to proceed to Midway Island to augment the island’s defenses volunteer navigators were sought from PATRON-24 to insure safe passage for the 1,200 mile open ocean flight.  ENS Wilke was one of the volunteers and flew with a flight of six TBFs to Midway.

On June 4, intelligence reports reported a Japanese fleet was preparing to attack Midway and ENS Wilke again signified his willingness to continue his participation as a member of the TBF flight.  Thus, he was a crewmember to provided navigation and bombardier services when the flight of six TBFs departed Midway in search of the Japanese fleet.  Once airborne the TBF flight headed in a slightly different direction than the main group of planes which had departed from carriers off Midway.  This left the TBFs without fighter protection as all fighters were in formation with the main group of planes.  The TBF flight was the first to sight the Japanese fleet and were thus the first U.S. units to begin the attack during the Battle of Midway.  Without fighter protection the six TBFs headed toward the Japanese fleet and were quickly surrounded by a large swarm of Japanese fighters which systematically began withering fire destroying the small flight of attacking TBFs one by one as they crashed into the sea.  Although facing an overwhelming number of Japanese fighters, the TBFs continued their attack and five of the TBFs were quickly destroyed.  Only one TBF successfully passed over the fleet and  managed to return 200 miles to Midway where it crash landed, never to fly again.  The  pilot and one crewman of this TBF were injured during the attack and the third crewman was killed. 

Unfortunately, ENS Wilke was among the first casualties in the Battle of Midway when his plane was shot down.  As his remains were never recovered his name is inscribed in the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.  In his honor, the USS JACK W. WILKE (DE-800) was commissioned in March 1944 and served in the Atlantic Theater of operations during the remainder of World War II.  Following the battle, the Navy awarded the Navy Cross to all the Navy pilots who died during the battle and the Distinguished Flying Cross was awarded to all enlisted aircrew members.  It has been reported that during the battle VT-8 lost forty-five of the forty-eight aircrew and twenty of the twenty-one planes that flew against the Japanese fleet.

NAVY  CROSS  CITATION

The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Jack W. Wilke (0-104093), Ensign, U.S. Navy Reserve, for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as Radioman/Bombardier of a carrier-based Navy Torpedo Plane in Torpedo Squadron EIGHT (VT-8), embarked from Naval Air Station Midway during the "Air Battle of Midway," against enemy Japanese forces on 4 and 5 June 1942.  In the first attack against an enemy carrier of the Japanese invasion fleet, Ensign Wilke pressed home his attack in the face of withering fire from enemy Japanese fighters and anti-aircraft forces.  Because of events attendant upon the Battle of Midway, there can be no doubt that he gallantly gave up his life in the service of his country.  His courage and utter disregard for his own personal safety were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.  He gallantly gave his life for his country.

                                        TBF-1  OF  VT-8  IN  FLIGHT

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)